Railing thru Europe: Stop 12.1 Germany – Hamburg and Berlin
After about 22 hours of travelling and crossing 3 countries in the process (taking the overnight train from Bergen to Oslo, another short train ride to Trollhättan before connecting via coach (as railworks were taking place) to Göteborg and onto the train again to Malmo and Copenhagen and finally onwards via ferry crossing towards Hamburg), we finally reached Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) in the night and couldn’t wait to check in to our hostel to have a nice bath and a proper place to sleep!
Oslo harbour views near the train station
Coach ride from Trollhättan to Göteborg
3 happy friends from Scandinavia
Before we go on, we would like to share with you guys something that happened on our way from Copenhagen. This is a letter of complaint written from us to DSB (Danish State Railways), bear in mind to some it can be a little long winded so just go on towards the pictures if you’re getting impatient haha!
Everyone had to alight after the train was safely parked in the Ferry
Trailers and caravans were parked beside us as well
Here’s a video of the ferry crossing:
These wind turbines are quite a sight! Great alternative energy solutions
Hamburg
As our hostel is just a stone throw away from the train station, we could see the trains from our room window
Exterior of Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
We didn’t see much of Hamburg though. We had wanted to see the famed street of Reeperbahn (Red light district) but thought against it as it was quite late and we didn’t had any proper rest since leaving Oslo. After a night’s rest, we were raring to go!
Berlin
Capital of Germany, heart of the Nazi regime during WW2 and seperated into 2 factions for 40 years by a wall during the cold war, Berlin has so much history to explore that we didn’t know where to begin. Eventually after settling down in our hostel, we decided to visit the famed TV tower and the Museumsinsel (Museum Island) first.
Berlin was fully booked over the weekend and we were lucky to have gotten the last vacancy in East Seven which we both fancied very much due to the whole retro theme including the 3 old school glass bottles of ice cool Cola (the weather was really scorching) i had when we checked in.
The hostel garden where people have their BBQ
The tallest structure in Germany, the Fernsehturm (Television Tower)
Marienkirche (St Mary's Church)
Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)
The Altes Museum, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. One of the 5 museums located at Museumsinsel
Alte Nationalgalerie
Pergamon Museum
Pergamon Altar
Pergamon Altar and its scaled model of how the structure looked like in whole
This scaled model shows where the Pergamon Altar was excavated, in Anatolia (Asia Minor) or present day Turkey
Ishtar Gate
Berlin Ampelmännchen (little traffic light man)
A Mobile Pub! As it moves past us, a strong smell of beer still lingers in the air
Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. The sculpture at the top was briefly taken into Paris by Napoleon but has since been returned
The Reichstag Building where the German reunification ceremony was held
Holocaust-Mahnmal (Holocaust Memorial) is a memorial dedicated to the Jews who were massacred during WW2
Corporate headquarters of Deutsche Bahn (national rail company of Germany) in Potsdamer Platz
Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin is the state parliament of Berlin
An exhibition by the late famed mexican painter Frida Kahlo at the Martin-Gropius-Bau
The Berlin Wall Monument
Topographie des Terrors (Topography of Terror) is an outdoor museum for the Gestapo and the Schutzstaffel (SS). During the Nazi Regime, the SS and the Gestapo's headquarters were located here but eventually were destroyed by the Allied Forces near the end of the second World War
Checkpoint Charlie - the symbol of the Cold War and the most famous crossing point of the Berlin Wall that seperates East and West Germany
The dome building is the Sankt Hedwigs Kathedrale (St. Hedwig's Cathedral)
Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum)
Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall) is the town hall of Berlin.
Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church)
Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) where the finals of the FIFA World Cup 2006 was held
Next stop, we will be heading to beautiful Prague in the Czech Republic!
J
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